کو as a Dative and Accusative Marker in Urdu

In Brief

Urdu کو (ko) comes after a person or thing to mark a recipient—“to someone”—or a definite, specific direct object—the person or thing directly affected by an action. It also marks the person who experiences a feeling, sensation, need, or knowledge: مجھے سردی لگ رہی ہے means “I feel cold,” literally something like “cold is affecting me.” Before کو, nouns and pronouns take their oblique form.

Overview

English uses word order and words such as “to” to distinguish “I gave Sara the book” from “I gave the book to Sara.” Urdu often uses کو for this job. Since کو follows its noun rather than preceding it, it is called a postposition—a linking word placed after a noun or pronoun. The person receiving the book is the indirect object (the recipient), while the book is the direct object (the person or thing directly affected by the verb).

At A2, the most useful rule is simple: use کو with recipients, with people referred to as direct objects, and in common patterns such as مجھے … ہے “I feel/have/know …”. You will also meet it with particular, already identified things. Urdu does not mark every direct object with کو, however. A nonspecific object often appears without it, so کو can help signal that the speaker has a particular person or thing in mind.

This is not a word-for-word match for English “to.” Sometimes English has no separate preposition at all: مجھے بتاؤ is “Tell me.” Conversely, not every English “to” becomes کو; direction toward a place normally uses other patterns, as in لاہور جاؤ “Go to Lahore.” Learn کو as part of Urdu sentence patterns rather than replacing every English “to” mechanically.

How It Works

1. The basic pattern

Urdu normally places the verb at the end of the clause. The common patterns are:

Function	Urdu pattern	Meaning
Recipient	giver + thing + recipient کو + verb	give/send/show something to someone
Specific direct object	subject + specific object کو + verb	see/call/meet that particular person or thing
Experiencer	experiencer کو + sensation/state + verb	someone feels, has, needs, likes, or knows something

In natural sentences, the order before the final verb can vary for emphasis, but کو stays immediately after the noun phrase it marks: علی کو, اس بچے کو, میری بہن کو.

2. Recipients and other indirect objects

Use کو for the person or group toward whom an action such as giving, sending, showing, or telling is directed:

• میں نے علی کو کتاب دی۔ — “I gave Ali a book.”
• استاد نے بچوں کو کہانی سنائی۔ — “The teacher told the children a story.”
• مجھے جواب بھیجو۔ — “Send me the answer.”

English may put the recipient directly after the verb (“give Ali a book”), but Urdu still marks it with کو. In a two-object sentence, this marking makes the roles clear.

3. Definite or specific direct objects

Use کو when a direct object is a person, especially a known or particular person:

• زینب کو بلاؤ۔ — “Call Zainab.”
• اس ڈاکٹر کو جانتے ہو؟ — “Do you know that doctor?”

Animals treated as particular individuals are commonly marked too: کتے کو اندر بلاؤ “Call the dog inside.” With things, کو is most natural when the object is strongly identified, singled out, or contrasted:

• اس کتاب کو میز پر رکھو۔ — “Put this particular book on the table.”
• کتاب میز پر رکھو۔ — “Put a/the book on the table.” The object is less strongly singled out.

Do not reduce this to “definite = always کو.” Urdu has no exact equivalent of English “the,” and object marking depends on animacy, specificity, context, and the verb. Human objects strongly favor کو; ordinary inanimate objects often appear without it even when English uses “the.” The beginner-safe approach is to use کو for named or known people and learn inanimate examples as complete phrases.

4. Oblique forms before کو

A noun phrase before a postposition takes the oblique case—the form used before words such as کو, میں, and سے. This change is visible in some nouns:

Direct form	Before کو	Meaning
لڑکا (laṛkā)	لڑکے کو (laṛke ko)	to/the boy
بچہ (bachchā)	بچے کو (bachche ko)	to/the child
لڑکے (laṛke, plural)	لڑکوں کو (laṛkoṅ ko)	to/the boys
لڑکی (laṛkī)	لڑکی کو (laṛkī ko)	to/the girl
لڑکیاں (laṛkiyāṅ)	لڑکیوں کو (laṛkiyoṅ ko)	to/the girls

Masculine singular nouns ending in ـا commonly change ـا to ـے. Singular feminine nouns usually show no change. All plural nouns have an oblique plural form before کو, commonly ending in ـوں.

Pronouns have special oblique or contracted forms. Both the separate and contracted forms below are standard, but the short forms are extremely common:

Basic pronoun	With کو	Common short form	Meaning
میں	مجھ کو	مجھے	to me / me
ہم	ہم کو	ہمیں	to us / us
تو	تجھ کو	تجھے	to you / you (intimate)
تم	تم کو	تمہیں	to you / you (informal)
یہ / وہ	اس کو	اسے	to him, her, it / him, her, it
یہ / وہ (plural)	ان کو	انہیں	to them / them
آپ	آپ کو	—	to you / you (respectful)

The short forms do not need another کو. Say مجھے, not مجھے کو. Because یہ and وہ share the oblique forms اس and ان, context tells you whether اسے means “to him,” “to her,” “to it,” “him,” “her,” or “it.”

5. Experiencer constructions

English often makes the person who feels or knows something the grammatical subject: “I am hungry,” “I like tea,” “Do you know Urdu?” Urdu frequently presents that person as an experiencer—the person undergoing a state—and marks them with کو:

• مجھے بھوک لگی ہے۔ — “I am hungry.”
• اسے نیند آ رہی ہے۔ — “He/She is getting sleepy.”
• آپ کو اردو آتی ہے؟ — “Do you know Urdu?”
• ہمیں یہ فلم پسند ہے۔ — “We like this film.”

This construction affects agreement. The verb may agree with the sensation or stimulus rather than with the experiencer. In مجھے بھوک لگی ہے, feminine لگی matches feminine بھوک, not the speaker. In مجھے سردی لگ رہی ہے, feminine رہی follows سردی. The sentence therefore does not reveal whether “I” is male or female.

Common experiencer patterns include:

Pattern	Natural English meaning
X کو بھوک لگنا	X is/becomes hungry
X کو پیاس لگنا	X is/becomes thirsty
X کو سردی / گرمی لگنا	X feels cold / hot
X کو نیند آنا	X feels sleepy
X کو معلوم ہونا	X knows / is aware
X کو زبان آنا	X knows a language
X کو چیز پسند ہونا	X likes a thing
X کو ضرورت ہونا	X needs something

6. When کو is usually absent

A general or nonspecific inanimate object often has no کو:

• میں کتاب پڑھ رہا ہوں۔ — “I am reading a book.”
• وہ چائے پیتی ہے۔ — “She drinks tea.”
• ہم نے کھانا کھایا۔ — “We ate the food/a meal.”

Adding کو can make an object sound more specifically selected, but it is not freely interchangeable in every sentence. Vocabulary, context, and the kind of object all matter. Notice also that destinations are not recipients: گھر جاؤ “Go home,” not گھر کو جاؤ in ordinary neutral conversation.

Examples in Context

Urdu	Romanization	English	Note
مجھے بتاؤ۔	mujhe batāo	Tell me.	Recipient of information
سارہ کو چابی دو۔	sārā ko chābī do	Give Sara the key.	Recipient
استاد نے بچوں کو کہانی سنائی۔	ustād ne bachchoṅ ko kahānī sunāī	The teacher told the children a story.	Oblique plural بچوں
اسے ایک پیغام بھیجو۔	use ek paighām bhejo	Send him/her a message.	اس کو contracted to اسے
اس کو بلاؤ۔	us ko bulāo	Call him/her.	Specific human object
میں نے احمد کو بازار میں دیکھا۔	maiṅ ne ahmad ko bāzār meṅ dekhā	I saw Ahmad in the market.	Named direct object
کتے کو باہر لے جاؤ۔	kutte ko bāhar le jāo	Take the dog outside.	Specific animal; کتا → کتے
اس کتاب کو مت پھینکو۔	is kitāb ko mat pheṅko	Do not throw this book away.	Strongly identified thing
مجھے بھوک لگی ہے۔	mujhe bhūk lagī hai	I am hungry.	Feminine لگی agrees with بھوک
مجھے سردی لگ رہی ہے۔	mujhe sardī lag rahī hai	I feel cold.	Experiencer construction
بچے کو نیند آ رہی ہے۔	bachche ko nīnd ā rahī hai	The child is getting sleepy.	بچہ → بچے before کو
آپ کو اردو آتی ہے؟	āp ko urdū ātī hai?	Do you know Urdu?	Literally, “Does Urdu come to you?”
ہمیں یہ جگہ پسند ہے۔	hameṅ yeh jagah pasand hai	We like this place.	ہم کو contracted to ہمیں
اسے مدد کی ضرورت ہے۔	use madad kī zarūrat hai	He/She needs help.	Literally, “To him/her there is a need for help”
مجھے کل دفتر جانا ہے۔	mujhe kal daftar jānā hai	I have to go to the office tomorrow.	Obligation or planned necessity

Common Mistakes

Omitting کو with a human direct object

• Wrong: میں نے احمد دیکھا۔ (when referring to a particular Ahmad)
• Right: میں نے احمد کو دیکھا۔
• Why: A named, specific person used as a direct object normally takes کو.

Adding کو to every direct object

• Wrong: میں روز چائے کو پیتا ہوں۔
• Right: میں روز چائے پیتا ہوں۔
• Why: General, nonspecific inanimate objects normally remain unmarked. Here “tea” means tea in general, not one singled-out portion.

Forgetting the oblique noun form

• Wrong: لڑکا کو بلاؤ۔
• Right: لڑکے کو بلاؤ۔
• Why: A masculine ـا noun changes to ـے before a postposition: لڑکا → لڑکے کو.

Doubling کو after a contracted pronoun

• Wrong: مجھے کو بتاؤ۔
• Right: مجھے بتاؤ۔
• Why: مجھے already means مجھ کو. The same warning applies to تجھے، اسے، ہمیں، تمہیں، انہیں.

Copying English “I am…” word for word

• Wrong: میں بھوکا ہے۔
• Right: مجھے بھوک لگی ہے۔
• Why: Urdu commonly expresses hunger as an experience affecting a person. A simple adjective is possible in میں بھوکا ہوں for a male speaker or میں بھوکی ہوں for a female speaker, but it requires matching forms and is a different structure.

Making the experiencer control agreement

• Wrong: مجھے سردی لگ رہا ہے۔
• Right: مجھے سردی لگ رہی ہے۔
• Why: رہی is feminine because سردی is feminine. The form does not depend on the gender of مجھے.

Usage Notes

The separate forms مجھ کو، اس کو، ان کو and the shorter مجھے، اسے، انہیں are both grammatical. The contracted forms are frequent and neutral in everyday speech and writing. A separate کو can be useful for emphasis or contrast: اس کو بلاؤ، اسے نہیں—“Call that person, not this one.”

With human objects, omitting کو may sound unnatural or may change how the phrase is understood. With inanimate objects, the choice is more flexible and context-sensitive. Compare یہ کتاب پڑھو “Read this book” with اس کتاب کو غور سے پڑھو “Read that particular book carefully.” Demonstratives such as یہ and اس already identify an object, but کو can further present it as a bounded, singled-out object. It is not compulsory in every such command.

English learners should resist two shortcuts. First, English “to” is not a reliable trigger: مجھے سنو is “Listen to me,” but کراچی جاؤ is “Go to Karachi.” Second, English subjects do not always remain subjects in Urdu. Memorize common sensations and preferences with their کو-marked experiencer.

Beyond the Basics / Advanced Use

You do not need to master all of these interactions at A2, but they explain forms you will soon encounter.

کو and perfective agreement

In a perfective clause—one presenting an action as completed—a transitive subject often takes نے. If the direct object is unmarked, the verb can agree with that object:

• علی نے کتاب پڑھی۔ — “Ali read the book.” Here پڑھی is feminine, agreeing with کتاب.

If the object takes کو, the verb normally cannot agree with it and appears in the default masculine singular form:

• علی نے اس کتاب کو پڑھا۔ — “Ali read that particular book.”
• میں نے اسے دیکھا۔ — “I saw him/her.”

In the second sentence, دیکھا does not reveal the gender of the person seen. This agreement pattern belongs to Urdu’s broader نے construction and is worth noticing before you study perfective tenses in depth.

Obligation and planned necessity

The pattern X کو + infinitive + ہونا often expresses something that X has to do or is scheduled to do:

• مجھے جانا ہے۔ — “I have to go.”
• آپ کو فارم بھرنا ہوگا۔ — “You will have to fill in the form.”

An infinitive is the dictionary “to…” form of a verb, usually ending in ـنا, such as جانا “to go” and کرنا “to do.” In more complex sentences, its form can interact with what follows, so learn common examples before trying to build long obligations.

Time and affected persons

کو also appears after certain time expressions, especially a particular day or point in time: پیر کو “on Monday,” رات کو “at night,” تین بجے “at three o’clock” (without کو). These temporal uses overlap historically and grammatically with the same postposition, but they are best learned as time phrases rather than as direct objects.

A person affected by an event may also be marked with کو, even where English chooses a possessive construction: اس کو چوٹ لگی “He/She was injured” or literally “An injury struck him/her.” This is part of the wider experiencer pattern, not an exceptional meaning to memorize separately.

Practice Tips

1. Sort examples by function. Make three columns headed “recipient,” “specific object,” and “experiencer.” Place sentences with کو, مجھے, اسے, and ہمیں into the correct column. This trains meaning rather than mere translation.
2. Transform noun and pronoun forms aloud. Practice لڑکا → لڑکے کو, بچے → بچوں کو, میں → مجھے, and وہ → اسے. Then use each in one short sentence.
3. Learn sensations as whole frames. Keep cards such as مجھے بھوک لگی ہے, مجھے پیاس لگی ہے, مجھے نیند آ رہی ہے, and مجھے اردو آتی ہے. Replace مجھے with اسے، ہمیں، آپ کو and notice which other words change—and which do not.

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Basic Postpositions — introduces Urdu words that follow nouns, including کو.
• Next step: Experiencer Constructions — develops patterns for sensations, needs, preferences, knowledge, and obligation.